What Does A Course in Miracles Teach?

by Robert Perry

Brief Answer

The Course's message is that our suffering does not come from the world's mistreatment of us, but from our ego's judgmental perception of the world. Our ego's angry stance makes us feel guilty, convincing us that we have hopelessly defiled the purity of our original nature. Yet our nature cannot be defiled, for God created it as a seamless part of true reality-a transcendental realm that can never change. The world of changing appearances is thus no more than a dream, with no effect on what is real. We can therefore overlook the world's appearances, including its mistreatment of us, seeing past it to a world of light composed of the shining innocence within our brothers. As we extend this forgiving vision to them, we see genuine love come out of us, and this slowly proves to us that we never defiled ourselves. Thus we awaken from the prison of the ego to the untouched innocence of our true nature, and to the limitless joy of true reality.